A Novelist with a Purpose

“A Novelist with a Purpose”
Life and Works of Charles Dickens
By
Xavier Pradheep Singh. M. S.

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Overview
Birth
Early Years
Education
Career
Works
Literary Style
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Birth
Charles John Huffam Dickens
On 7th February 1812
At Portsea in England
Son of John Dickens and Elizabeth
Second of eight children
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Early Years
His father, a minor clerk in the Navy Pay Office, was a man of the Micawber type.
He was unable to manage his financial affairs which led to a severe financial crisis
His family moved first to London in 1823, then to Chatham and back to London
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Dickens's home from 1817 to 1821 in Chatham
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A Voracious Reader
He read the novels of:
Smollette
Fielding
Le Sage
This reading has an influence upon his works
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Financial Crisis
John Dickens was arrested and taken to debtor’s prison of the Marshalsea
The schooling of Dickens was suspended
He was sent to work at a blacking factory
A time of utter misery, humiliation and despair.
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Rescue
A timely legacy from John’s grand mother, Elizabeth Dickens.
She had left him ₤450 in her will.
Hence John was released and Charles Dickens was sent back to school.
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Career
Became a junior clerk in a solicitor’s office in 1827
Learnt shorthand and became a reporter in 1829
Became a parliamentary reporter on The TrueSun and then on The Morning Chronicle
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Marriage
Loved a girl, Maria Beadnell, in 1830.
But Maria’s parents disapproved their affair and sent her to Paris.
Married Catherine Thomson Hogarth in 1836.
They had ten children.
The marriage ended in separation in 1858.
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Writing Career
Published Sketches by Boz in The Monthly Magazine
Sketches by Boz was published as book in two volumes in 1836
It brought him immediate success
“Boz” is his pen name.
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Pickwick Papers
Chapman & Hall publishers commissioned him to write stories for a series of sketches by Seymour.
Dickens wrote The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club from April 1836 to 1837
It established his fame for all time
Dickens became a busy and successful novelist
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Oliver Twist in 1838
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About a boy named Oliver Twist, who escapes from a workhouse and meets a gang of pickpockets in London

Nicholas Nickleby in 1839
Master Humphrey’s Clock in 1841
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Tours to foreign countries
Visited America in 1842 and again in 1867
Visited Italy in 1844
Visited Switzerland in 1846
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American Notes
Based on his impressions of America he published American Notes in 1842 and Martin Chuzzlewit in 1843
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A Christmas Carol in 1843
Dombey and Son in 1846
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David Copperfield (1849)
His masterpiece
Originally appeared in serial form
The most autobiographical of all of his novels
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Bleak House in 1852
Little Dorrit in 1855
A Tale of Two Cities in 1859
Great Expectations in 1860
Our Mutual Friend in 1864
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Set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution
With 200 million copies sold, it is the most printed original English book
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Published in weekly installments in Dickens' literary periodical All the Year Round from 30th April 1859 to 25th November of the same year.
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Public Readings
He made public readings of his own works on a professional basis
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Poster promoting a reading by Dickens in Nottingham dated Feb. 4, 1869; two months before he suffered a mild stroke
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Last Novel
He wrote till his death
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (incomplete)
His health broke down completely in 1869
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Death
Died from a cerebral stroke at Gad’s Hill Place on 9th June 1870
He was buried in Westminster Abbey
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The Grave of Charles Dickens
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Popularity of his novels
He was a popular author at the age of 26
His books never went out of print
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His interest in Social Reform
Dealt with social evils of his day
Boarding schools in Nicholas Nickleby
Workhouses in Oliver Twist
New Manufacturing System in Hard Times
Court of Chancery in Bleak House
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His Characterization
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His Characterization
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No English novelist excels Dickens in the multiplicity of characters
He has created a whole world of people

His humour and pathos
Reputation as a humourist
His humour is broad, humane and creative
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His style
Neither polished nor scholarly
Clear, rapid and workmanlike
The style of a journalist
a lyrical style
A mixture of fantasy and realism
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His humanitarianism
His novels belong to the humanitarian movement of the Victorian age
He was “a novelist with a purpose”
He was the champion of the weak, the outcast and the suppressed.
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Episodic writing
Most of his novels were written in monthly and weekly installments in journals
Later they were reprinted in book forms
He used ‘cliffhangers’ to arouse curiosity in readers
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His signature
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Thank You
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A Novelist with a Purpose

by Xavier Pradheep Singh on Jan 09, 2010

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